Is this Sales Opportunity Worth Winning?

Posted on 10/14/2015 in Selling Skills

How often have you found yourself expending far too much time and energy on a prospect or customer when the sales opportunity may not even be worth it?

An effective sales strategy requires that each sales person analyze what makes a great customer in a given market. The way to do this is to start out by making two lists. One list should contain several of your Most Desirable Customers. The second list should contain several of your Least Desirable Customers. On each list, consider each customer on that list one at a time. What criteria make this customer a “most desirable” or “least desirable” customer? You goal should be to end up with a list of (at least) 5 criteria for your Most Desirable Customers and 5 criteria for your Least Desirable Customers.

A Most Desirable Customer Criteria might include things like:

1. long term customer with our company2. buys broad range of our products3. buys on value before price4. customer’s market is growing = growth potential for us5. has good credit and pays on time

A Least Desirable Customer Criteria might include things like:

1. often buys on price2. has no loyalty to us and often shops around3. currently buying two product lines from us, buys more from competition4. often makes unreasonable demands on pricing, delivery, terms5. doesn’t always pay on time

Your lists may or may not be like the ones above. Your criteria should reflect what is important in your market. Analyze every new sales opportunity against your criteria. The better the prospect, the greater the priority and effort. Win the ones worth winning!